Beach bums part 1

9^th October-11^th October – Days 375-378 – Tofo, Mozambique

Tofo (spelt in that way but pronounce Tofu, like the fake meat) is probably Mozambique's most touristy town, but it's surprisingly and pleasantly low key. As in Zanzibar, I arrived with a feeling that I may not enjoy it all that much but Tofo grew on me quite quickly. Its hot, dusty and sandy streets were great to walk around, local people would smile and wave. They'd definitely get tough on bargaining if you launched yourself into the process but there was no HEY MZUNGU!-style chasing as there are in some towns and somehow Tofo seemed to have character, which I find tourist towns are totally devoid of. We wandered up a long, sandy path through more huts and palm trees (getting deja vu yet?) to Bamboozi, an entirely natural backpackers which blended beautifully into the natural surroundings. A bar and restaurant overlooking the sea was another nice touch. It was a bit far out from the centre but Tofo is a small town and a 15 minute walk wasn't completely out of our capacities.

Tofo beach

...and Tofo town

We settled into a Mozambican lifestyle. Walking, beach, beer, piri-piri calamari. Unlike Mozambicans, though, we didn't respect the piri-piri enough and often ended up rushing for ice to stick onto our pained tongues. The days were languid, lazy and enjoyable although this had a real "end of the trip" feel to it. We would be back in Europe in a few weeks and our drive to push forever forward was quickly disappearing. I was happy sitting around watching people and time go past, thinking back over the year gone by, wishing another one was ahead of us. We'd have both jumped at the chance but our bank account was suffering dangerously by this point and we had stretched the trip probably as far as it could go. In the same way that a terminally ill person will spend his or her remaining days in as comfortable a setting as possible, so our trip's life was coming to an end and Tofo was our hospice.

Don't lose hope girls, there is still time to do things!

The path to Bamboozi

Still, there was a bit of life in us yet and we'd lined up a little visit to the close-by town of Inhambane and a trip around the surrounding islands on a dhow, a typical Arab-East African boat. It wasn't grand adventure but they were perfectly reasonable hospice activities.

Hospice activities #1